MEP Sorin Moisa announces decision to resign from PSD

MEP Sorin Moisa announced on Saturday having decided to resign from the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and that he will also quit the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group to join the EPP group as an independent. 

In a Facebook post, Moisa points the finger at party Chairman Liviu Dragnea under whose lead "PSD has unburied, revived and adjusted to the current context of Romania a bunch of the long-groomed reflexes of national-communism." 

He also takes issue with how PSD presents the relation with Brussels and the multinationals. 

"What PSD offers now is not patriotism, but frustrated nationalism in the Polish or Hungarian vein, that poses a futile opposition to Brussels, staking out a social conservative stance. This is a type of rhetoric and political practice that draws the country close not only to the illiberal Vishegrad group, but also to Putin's Russia," Moisa wrote, adding that he was also appalled by the out-of-touch lack of empathy shown at the recent anniversary of Dragnea's birthday the same day of the two-year commemoration of the Colectiv fire tragedy. 

Among the reasons that led him to the decision to quit PSD Sorin Moisa also lists the credibility-deprived fight against corruption and the TelDrum case where Dragnea stands accused of corruption deeds. 

"PSD has reached such a level of domestic and international distrust that no one believes them any more as regards the reform of justice, not even when they are possibly right. Therefore they should better send the reform projects to the Venice Commission first and seek the opinion of this body which cannot be suspicioned of bias," Moisa adds. 

In the TelDrum case he vents off saying that "even if in the end the trial would not prove Dragnea's guilt, his position at the head of the party and of the Parliament of Romania has become unsustainable wherever in the civilized world. (...) What seems to happen now is Mr. Dragnea pushing Romania, in order to save his own neck, into an authoritarian project to justify ignoring the reaction of the EU and the US to a blitz anti-justice operation." 

Moisa added that his resignation from PSD will be immediately followed by his resignation from the S&D group and his handing over all the files he was handling in this capacity. 

"In recent years, many political parties of the S&D group have shifted towards a radical left I could only be connected to as a purely intellectual speculation. My solid connection with the S&D group was the PSD delegation, a pragmatic delegation solidly rooted in the moderate, centrist part of the S&D. Once this tie dissolved, I will join as an independent the EPP group that has occupied the center of the political spectrum the S&D has freed in such an uninspired move," he said. 

Sorin Moisa made it clear that he will not join any political party, organization, foundation or platform in Romania, "except for the highly unlikely case where he could contribute to a truly transformative momentum in Romanian politics." AGERPRES .